Investing in People Matters: A Black Man’s perspective on The People’s Budget

The Movement for Black Lives is a reminder of our nation's strained racial relations. The leading example of this today are criminal justice policies that have lead to the disproportionate arrest and incarceration of people of color, particularly low-skilled African-American males. Our failed criminal justice policies have resulted in collateral consequences that systematically deny millions, of all races and ethnicities, access to the American Dream.

To solve the challenges created by the historic marginalization of the urban poor, and current trends in criminal justice policy, we must stop dealing with social challenges such as homelessness, mental illness, drug abuse, and poverty through incarceration. Instead, we must recognize the value of all members of our society and addresses social issues in a humane and thoughtful way. The People’s Budget is a good first step in reducing the nation’s incarceration rate and increasing access to opportunity for all.

Marc Carr is the founder of Social Solutions, an organization committed to crowdsourcing solutions to intractable social problems. Follow Social Solution’s D.C. initiative to reduce the incarceration rate on Twitter @capitolinnovation.